TONY HETHERINGTON: The Lavender Hill mob… of car scams

Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s chief investigator. He battles the reader’s corner, reveals the truth that lies behind closed doors, and wins victories for those left out of pocket. Below you can read how to contact him.

DB writes: I received an email from Ryan Hirons, an automotive journalist at the website Carwow, who offered an appraisal of my car.

I clicked on the link in the email and filled in the requested information.

A day later I received a valuation and invoice for £99, and was told if I don’t pay the debt will be turned over to a collection agency.

Tony Hetherington replies: Do not pay a penny. This is a scam based on lies and false claims. If a collection agency touches it, tell me.

The first lie is that the email you received is not from Ryan Hirons from Carwow. It may look authentic. It says, “Many used cars become an appreciative asset – find out if the car on your ride is worth more than you paid for it.” And there’s a link that simply says “Appreciate my car.”

Clicking on the link took you to a website called car-rate.co.uk. But Carwow denies any involvement in this. It told me: ‘We can confirm that the email is not from Ryan Hirons, a Carwow employee, and that neither Carwow nor Ryan Hirons has any connection to car-rate.co.uk or its owners.’ So, following in your footsteps, I clicked through to the car-rate website myself. “What’s your car worth now?” it asks.

All you have to do is enter the registration number of your car. What it doesn’t say is that there’s a £99 fee. To discover this, you need to know that you are not just looking at a fixed web page, but a web page that scrolls down to reveal the hidden fine print.

I wanted to discuss this with Car-rate, but they don’t give a phone number. I emailed the address on the website, but it came back with the automatic message “the recipient’s domain does not exist.” But don’t worry as the car rate website gives its address – 83 Lavender Hill in South West London.

This turned out to be home to a real company called Idea Space, which provides desks and work facilities for small businesses. But as soon as I mentioned car fare, the helpful guy from Idea Space said to me, “They’re not here.” People have called them, but they’re just using our address wrong.’

This left one place to investigate. Car-rate’s invoice to you shows a different address, 56 Shoreditch High Street, an office building in East London.

This is the address of Wise, an FCA regulated payment transaction company that offers ways to move money between different currencies and countries – and the signs are that this scam is being run from the Republic of Ireland.

Again, there was no trace of car fare in Shoreditch, but it does have an account with Wise.

If you had paid the £99 your money would have gone to sort code 23-14-70, account number 71245295.

I gave full details of the scam to Wise, who told me, “Whenever we detect activity that violates our Acceptable Use Policy, we take appropriate steps to prevent it.” Wise is now investigating. I hope this means that the account will be closed and any payments coming into it will be refunded to the victim.

Is it fair to get a parking ticket at a care home?

MM writes: As a pedicure I treat residents of a retirement home in Horsham. The exact parking arrangements have never been clear, but management has directed me to park anywhere. This worked well until, unknown to me, UK Car Park Management was appointed.

No one in the building said a word about changes but a few days later I received a parking charge notice demanding £60.

My appeal was quickly rejected with a warning that if I did not pay the fine would be £100. I paid to protect myself from legal action, but at 90 years old I don’t like being taken advantage of.

It was taken advantage of: Parking was good at Horsham retirement home until UK Car Park Management was appointed

Tony Hetherington replies: I asked Saxon Weald, who runs the house, for comment. They say residents have received a letter from UK Car Park Management explaining the new rules and penalties. There was also signage in the car park although you told me you had read this in the past and had no reason to realize things had changed.

UK Car Park Management declined to comment, but I understand the company relied on residents to warn visitors to follow new restrictions, even though your patients clearly didn’t and you paid the price. Is this fair? Of course not, but the government has abandoned its plan to make parking companies act more fairly. Meanwhile, operating a parking garage, or simply controlling the cameras monitoring someone else’s parking lot, is a money-printing license.

If you believe you have been the victim of financial misconduct, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 9 Derry Street, London W8 5HY or email tony.hetherington@mailonsunday.co.uk. Due to the large number of questions, no personal answers can be given. Only send copies of original documents, which unfortunately cannot be returned.